Ulvin Belfast

Noted calypso songwriter, producer, teacher, musician and steel orchestra music arranger, Ulvin Belfast, passed away in Trinidad, W.I. on October 26, 2007.  Mr. Belfast worked with many of the top Calypsonians and was instrumental in many of the Mighty Sparrow’s hits as an arranger and performer.

Renowned arranger and musician Pelham Goddard remembers working with Belfast around 1972, when Goddard was in rehearsal with Art de Coteau for a forthcoming trip to St. Thomas, and Belfast was on hand for some of the artists who were part of the line up, and for whom he had written music. He is credited as one of the arrangers on productions of veteran Jamaican musician Bryon Lee, including Jamaica’s Golden Hits, Vols. 1 and 2.

Additionally, Belfast worked with Carl ‘Beaver’ Henderson, Baron, Virgin Island’s King Styler and Antigua & Barbuda’s King Short Shirt, among others. The illustrious musician was also known as the arranger for New York’s Silhouettes Steel Orchestra in the early 1990s, and instructed youths in the art of playing the steelpan instrument within the New York City public school system, where he served as a music instructor.  

When Steel Talks was told that Belfast was laid to rest four days later on October 30, after his October 26 passing.

Click to hear New York’s Silhouettes Steel Orchestra’s performance of Ulvin Belfast’s 1994 Panorama arrangement.

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Comment from Len Church - September 12, 2020:

“I lost contact with Ulvin back in NY in the eighties. We were close friends and up and coming musicians back in T&T and did some work in the US. The last time I saw him we we did a jazz gig in the village, both of us alternating on Bass and Keyboards. Belfast was a really fun and kindhearted guy. Love to talk music theory and music was his entire life. He was a quick study, I remember he called me to look at an 8 track studio he was building in Brooklyn, I was shocked at what he accomplished with a very rudimentary electronics background. He was one of those self-taught musicians that made amazing works seem like a walk in the park. RIP my friend.”